The Second Task and a Half
by Akatsuki assassin
Summary: A look under the Black Lake during the second task. What the Merpeople had to do was just as hard as the champions, and more dangerous. T because... because shut up.


**Disclaimer: Harry Potter. I'd be high if I thought that I owned it. I'm not.**

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The Merpeople were in an uproar. Even though sharks live in the Great Lake, they are almost always alone, and are friendly, never attacking anything except for food, and even then they stayed away from the Merpeople.

The chief of the Merpeople of the Great Lake was on the outskirts of the underwater village with his warriors, trying his best to keep the three sharks at bay. The haven't suffered any casualties, but there were some very close calls.

'Damn! On the day that the surfacers entrusted us with four of their own! This couldn't get any worse!'

"Chief! There are two other sharks that have been spotted on the opposite end of the village!"

"A diversion?! Groups one and two, stay here and fend off these sharks! Group three, come with me! We must protect the villagers at all costs!"

The messenger spoke again. "Sir! They aren't attacking the people, they're swimming directly toward the surfacers!"

"What?! We must get there immediately! Meet them head-on, use yourself as bait, just don't let them harm the surfacers!" ordered the chief. He swam toward the center of the village, leaving twelve warriors fending off the sharks, with six warriors following him swiftly. The messenger swam with them for a few seconds but turned to go hide with his family.

As they were approaching the center, they could see the surfacers still tied to posts at the bottom, but at the opposite side, two sharks appeared out of the murky waters, swimming directly at the surfacers. "Malango!" called the chief. The leader of the group of Mermen looked at him. "Come with me! We'll take the one in front!" Malango nodded at the instructions. "The rest of you will attack the second shark!"

In an impressive show of skill, the chief and Malango put on a burst of speed and managed to close the distance between themselves and the surfacers before the sharks could. The other Mermen were farther behind but would reach the surfacers before the sharks.

The first shark, seeing that it couldn't get to the people, opened its mouth in preparation for the fight it knew was coming. The chief held his spear in front of him, horizontally, to stop the shark where it was. With only about ten feet between them, the shark suddenly curved to its left, in an attempt to get around. Thinking quickly, the chief threw his spear at the shark. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to see which end was pointed toward the shark, and when it hit it, all that really happened was the shark changing targets.

Malango swam at the now large target of the shark with the sharp end of his spear pointed toward the middle. In an impressive show of underwater maneuverability, the shark was barely able to avoid the spear, but had no time to avoid Malango tackling it. Seeing that it had little chance of success, it turned and swam, no doubt going to come back right away. The chief reached to his waist and drew the two short daggers and gave chase. Malango followed, not yet drawing his own as the spear required two hands. For the corner of his eye, Malango saw his men swimming around the second shark, occasionally making a charge, but always missing.

Merpeople, who are like humans in their ability to adapt quickly and are also magical creatures, are able to out swim anything underwater. So it was no surprise when the two Merpeople were able to catch up to the shark. The chief held one of his daggers in reverse-grip and tried to swing it into the side of the shark, but it saw it coming and tried to avoid it. A small cut appeared on the side of it.

Seeing that it would take too much time to get rid of it that way, the chief slowed down to speak with Malango. "We need to steer it toward Starfish Cave. I'll give you further instructions when we get there."

So they began the long task of blocking all forms of escape except for turning around and retreating. Every time it would try to swim in another direction, one of them would appear in its way, swinging their weapons threateningly. When they finally got it to the cave that they were leading it toward, the chief spoke again. "We have to get it inside and move the stone next to the entrance blocking it until the surfacers are gone." Merpeople were peaceful creatures, not harming other creatures except when necessary.

But no matter ho much they invaded its space to scare it, it wouldn't go inside, as if it knew that there was a trap set up for it. Suddenly, the chief had an idea. "Malango!" he called. "I'm going to lure it inside the cave. I want you to close the entrance while it's in there."

"But what about you? How will you get out?"

"If there is time, I will escape. If not, I will remain trapped with it," replied the chief solemnly.

"But what about the village? We need your leadership to guide us!" exclaimed Malango.

"I would sooner die that betray the surfacer's trust. I would not be able to live with the guilt of four of their children dieing because I couldn't do what was needed. Listen, if I do not make it out, you are to go back to the village immediately to help," ordered the chief.

"Chief, I cannot-"

"That is an order! Do you understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Good." And with that, the chief took one of his daggers, and made a cut along his arm, causing him to drop the other one. Blood began to flow from the wound as the chief swam past the shark and into the cave, disappearing into the darkness. The shark was about to try to escape, seeing as there was only one Merman left, but when it tasted the blood in the water, it lost all control and swam madly after the chief.

Malango looked sadly into the cave for a moment before coming to his senses and began to push the large stone to block the only exit, hoping that his chief would make it out. It took him a good few minutes, but the stone was about three-quarters into position. Just before the hole was at a size where a Merman couldn't fit, the chief made it through the hole and turned to help push the stone into place. A few seconds after the chief had started helping, there was a great force that slammed into the stone, trying to push it away from the cave. Neither had to look into the hole to know that the shark was trying to escape.

Once it was secure, they began swimming back to the village. The luring of the shark toward the cave had take about twenty minutes, and without the constant stopping, it only took them about five to get back. They swam low to the ground, to sneak up on any other sharks that might be nearby. When they passed a patch of seaweed, the chief grabbed one and wrapped it around his arm to stop the bleeding. As they were approaching the center of the village, the other four sharks could be seen swimming where the surfacers were. The rest of the warriors could be seen giving chase, but wouldn't be fast enough to stop the sharks before they reached the surfacers.

As the places where the surfacers came into view, however, they weren't there anymore. The chief turned to one of the soldiers that he recognized was fighting the other of the two sharks that snuck in from behind. "Where did the surfacers go? Did the sharks get to them?"

The soldier shook his head, smiling. "No sir, the surfacers came to retrieve them. One with black hair came first and freed one, but stayed and waited. Next was an older one with brown hair and he freed another and swam away as soon as he could. Finally another one arrived, looking like a half shark and took another one. The first one down here waited many more minutes and then took the last one as well as the one that he had."

The chief closed his eyes in deep thought. After a few seconds he spoke. "I must inform the headmaster of what has transpired, save for the sharks. I wouldn't want him thinking that it isn't safe down here." He turned and started swimming toward the edge of the lake. He stopped and turned around again. "Malango," he called.

"Yes chief?"

"Give me your dagger."

"What? Why?" For the Merpeople, if they were a soldier and their weapon was taken from them, it was a sign that they had done a great misdeed and were being disgracefully removed.

"I dropped mine back at the cave, and I will be traveling for a great distance. I fear that I may need a second one and cannot waste time retrieving my other one. You can have it."

"Thank you, sir," said Malango gratefully. "What should I do about the shark?"

"If it hasn't already escaped, let it out. I do not think it will attack us again if there are no surfacers." With that, the chief took the dagger, put it into its holder, and swam off in the direction he was going.

Malango turned and headed back toward Starfish Cave. After a few minutes, he could see the entrance of the cave. The stone that he and the chief had put in front of it had been knocked over. He had a quick look around to see if the shark was lurking around, but it had gone. Then something caught his eye. Something was glittering in the light that came from above the water. As he swam closer, he realized that it was the dagger that the chief had dropped earlier. He picked it up and examined it closely. It was better made and had a nice design that his old dagger. He quickly put it into its holder and swam off.

He would have to show it off to the other generals when he could.

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**It took me a while to come up with that name. Coming up with a name for a human is easy, for a magical creature who have had weird-a** sounding names for who knows how long, not so easy.**

**For those who are following this collection: if you don't know who is being written in by now, you fail.**

**You lost the game.**

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He watched as three of his sharks swam off toward the underwater village. It was time to feed them and he knew that they didn't like those freaky fish things that lived there. But he was told that humans were being sent down for a few hours. He was watching them when they first arrived, but the security was too tight to get them. During the last half hour, however, he noticed that the guards were either tiring out or getting lazy.

It was the perfect time to strike.

Three of them charged head on, hoping to break through. But the fish creatures were very swift and very clever, never letting his sharks pass. When reinforcements arrived, he figured that his sharks were up against a majority of the fighters, seeing how small the village was. His other two sharks circled around, undetected, to the other side. A small group broke off a few minutes later and was swimming quickly to the center of the village. Someone must have seen his sharks and warned them.

He strained his eyes to be able to see through the water. He saw the humans in the center with his sharks approaching them. But the fish-people were going to reach them before his sharks could. He wanted to help, but he couldn't risk being seen. He watched as one of his sharks was forced away from the humans. The other one was trying to get close, but outnumbered. A few minutes later, he saw a human boy with black hair swim to the humans and cut one of them free. He was about to free another one, and the man was close to coming out of hiding, but the local fish creatures stopped the boy.

Then the boy simply waited. The man couldn't guess for what, but he had observed the people with their sticks and didn't want to take his chances. Besides, the creatures would, see, he would have to kill all of them, and some would probably live and tell what happened. He could not afford to be discovered.

He watched as a second, probably older human appeared and freed another one and then swam off. The first one was still there, waiting for something. Another few minutes passed by and his sharks still hadn't gotten any closer to the remaining humans. Then, from the murky water came a shark. It was about time one of them had gotten free. But as he actually got a good look, he realized that it was just another human half turned into a shark. It bit at the rope, that was holding a human and it was cut easily and swam of with the human.

After many more minutes, the fist boy to arrive decided that whatever he was waiting for wouldn't show up, so he went to free the last human. The fist creatures tried to stop him, but when he pulled out his stick, they all fled in terror. The man could do nothing but watch as his sharks' meal was taken away.

A few moments later, four of his sharks made their way to where the humans used to be. Then he felt something to his right. He quickly pulled a large object off of his back and swung it. As he saw what it was, he stopped just in time from killing his own shark. He instructed the shark to call the others back to him.

When the other sharks arrived, he started swimming and they immediately followed, all seeming to be a little disappointed. It seemed that they all knew that they wouldn't have that chance to feed on humans for a long time.

Putting Samehada back on his back, Kisame decided not to tell this to Itachi. He would never let him forget it. When he saw a sole dolphin ahead, he picked up his pace.

It was time to eat.


End file.
